Cast iron cookware

[WoodAbuser]

Supper last nite and a few more meals:


2 kinds of veggies, 3 kinds of meat and 5 kinds of cheese. Not much beats cast iron cooked deep dish.

 

[Bill G]

.....................I do not recall when I last knowingly ate beef.

Why?

 

[Wilhelm]

Why?

Because we tend to buy poultry & pork.

 

[bucketofguts]

Trying to eat more fish. Not Tuna, Salmon, Swordfish. Lower on the food chain. N.C. Black drum, Flounder, Sheepshead, Shrimp, Scallop. Wild caught. It is expensive. Oh I love a beef critter. World Chees-Burger Day just passed. I did not miss out. Always cook a double, you get twice the Maillard reaction. I find 2 3.5 oz. burgers about right to fit on a normal bun with accoutrements. Kraft "American" Singles" for me to make it a Double Cheese-Burger. I also grind my burger. Usually Chuck-eye, Short Rib, Brisket. That has been known to change. I have done every crazy burger but always come back to these ingredients. YMMV. Please put a good hide on thoes patties with cast iron.

 

[WoodAbuser]

Homemade whole wheat pie crust, sausage, green pepper, onion, eggs and cheese.
Before:

After:

 

[Bill G]

Because we tend to buy poultry & pork.

I rarely eat chicken and much rather eat beef than pork. Lamb is a bit different

 

[Philbert]

Scored today at a church rummage sale.

Wanted to find a nice 8” / #5 or #6 skillet to upgrade from the cheap one I have.

Saw a nothing special looking, enameled pan at the bottom of a pile.

Cleaned up nice!

Philbert

 

[furb]

$20 for this pile with some Wagner’s and lodges

 

[Philbert]

(Not) Scraping By

Wanted to protect my stacked cookware. Not just seasoned cast iron, but enameled, non-stick, etc.

New pans are often packed in corrugated cardboard, so I started with circles of that (like mini-pizza trays), or pieces of old towels.

Found some silicone ‘stars’ on clearance at a fancy kitchen store (red in photo), but regular price was ridiculous. Same with heavy, felt ones.



Settled on some thick, rubber, shelf liner material that I had from a home center. Made a pattern out of a piece of cardboard.


Will see how they work?

*EDIT: I should note that these are not heat resistant, as the silicone ones are, and shoud only be used to separate cold pots and pans when stacked, and not as a trivet!



Philbert

 

[maulhead]

(Not) Scraping By

Wanted to protect my stacked cookware. Not just seasoned cast iron, but enameled, non-stick, etc.

New pans are often packed in corrugated cardboard, so I started with circles of that (like mini-pizza trays), or pieces of old towels.

Found some silicone ‘stars’ on clearance at a fancy kitchen store (red in photo), but regular price was ridiculous. Same with heavy, felt ones.

View attachment 436100

Settled on some thick, rubber, shelf liner material from a home center. Made a pattern out of a piece of cardboard.
View attachment 436102

Will see how they work?

View attachment 436101

Philbert

Philbert?

 

[Bill G]

Looks good.

 

[WoodAbuser]

Put some of my cast iron to work:

 

[Yukon Stihl]

My latest E-Tank cleanup

 

[Philbert]

Very nice!

This is electrolysis? I’ve used it for rust, but did not know it took off old layers of seasoning.

Philbert

 

[Yukon Stihl]

Very nice!

This is electrolysis? I’ve used it for rust, but did not know it took off old layers of seasoning.

Philbert

Takes off everything leaves raw cast iron
I spent about 2 minutes with curly cue to scrub the residue off.
I use it for rusted chains and bars as well

 

[Philbert]

I use it for rusted chains and bars as well

I got ‘spooked’ trying it on a rusty chain: blew a bunch of chrome off!

I assume that the rust hand penetrated below the chrome, but still been a bit gun shy of trying it again.

Philbert

 

[WoodAbuser]

I got ‘spooked’ trying it on a rusty chain: blew a bunch of chrome off!

I assume that the rust hand penetrated below the chrome, but still been a bit gun dhy of trying it again.

Philbert

Reversing the anode and cathode (polarity) is used for plating, so I would expect using it the way folks do for cleaning would remove plating.

 

[Philbert]

FINISHING

A lot of cast iron has sharp edges along the rim, etc., along with occasional sharp spots in the cooking surface, that you feel when cleaning.

This is a pet peeve of mine, especially, around the handles.

While stripped, I tried a number of abrasives, that I had, to smooth some of these out: sanding discs, abrasive cloth, Dremel sanding drums, stone points in an electric die grinder, etc.



Most worked. Some faster than others. The Dremels and die grinder were easy to control for detail work, with the piece clamped to a table.

3M ScotchBrite, Roloc discs worked really well, but can be harder to find. A straight or right angle pneumatic grinder could also be a good option.



The hanger holes and Dutch oven handles were a bit trickier. I used some ‘dull’, 5/32”, round, chainsaw files to reach tight radiuses, then finished with abrasive cloth, pulled up-and-down against the edges.



The photos also show a coarse, ScotchBrite, paint stripping pad in an electric drill, used to smooth down the ‘stipple’ of some newer cast iron: someone started that on these pans before I got them, and I will cover that in a separate post.



Philbert

 

[Wilhelm]

Enameled steel cooking pot on top, raw cast iron "seasoned" fire pot bottom (washed and wiped down with a sunflower oil doused cotton cloth).
The firepot gets exposed to direct flames when used.

 

[Wilhelm]

FINISHING

A lot of cast iron has sharp edges along the rim, etc., along with occasional sharp spots in the cooking surface, that you feel when cleaning.

This is a pet peeve of mine, especially, around the handles.

While stripped, I tried a number of abrasives, that I had, to smooth some of these out: sanding discs, abrasive cloth, Dremel sanding drums, stone points in an electric die grinder, etc.

View attachment 436926

Most worked. Some faster than others. The Dremels and die grinder were easy to control for detail work, with the piece clamped to a table.

3M ScotchBrite, Roloc discs worked really well, but can be harder to find. A straight or right angle pneumatic grinder could also be a good option.

View attachment 436925

The hanger holes and Dutch oven handles were a bit trickier. I used some ‘dull’, 5/32”, round, chainsaw files to reach tight radiuses, then finished with abrasive cloth, pulled up-and-down against the edges.

View attachment 436928

The photos also show a coarse, ScotchBrite, paint stripping pad in an electric drill, used to smooth down the ‘stipple’ of some newer cast iron: someone started that on these pans before I got them, and I will cover that in a separate post.

View attachment 436927

Philbert

I did not do that to my raw cast iron firepot and when washing I notice sharp edges and small bumps.
I did polish the firepot I gifted to my sister having noticed the "defects" on mine.